We have finally been able to complete the purchase of Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) for the piano lab. With the tutoring of Justin Duplain, I have had a crash course in administering the multi-mac lab from a central location.
While Justin is handling the weekly administration–automating necessary system updates and compliance with IT safety software–I have now been able to create a library assistant user on each machine as well as reinstalling music software necessary for classes. I was also successful in rolling back the one mac that had been automatically updated to Sierra. I had to completely erase the drive, reinstall el Capitan, and set up the machine for the lab from scratch.
While this sounds simple, it was a time-consuming process, both learning how to efficiently use ARD to accomplish tasks, as well as ensuring each machine is set up exactly the same without any bugs.
It should also be mentioned that this is one of those tasks that do not really fall within my job description, but falls between the cracks and must be done.
